The secret to Beer World’s success in soon opening its 11th local beer and beverage wholesale store lies in beer brewed using wild yeast cultured from nine beard hairs from a brewmaster.
Well, to be more accurate, the store’s success stems from its staff’s willingness to procure said beer – an Oregon microbrew so strange and difficult to find that it sparked national headlines and a mini-craze with its 2013 release.
Not only did Beer World hunt down Rogue Ales Beard Beer, Saumik “Sonny” Patel, Beer World’s founder, face and managing general partner among four family-member owners, has staked the chain’s reputation on such customer service.
That desire to serve customers’ eclectic beer tastes, trying to buy any customer-requested brew with state permission to be sold in New York, is why the 21-year-old chain expanded in October to its 10th location, said Patel, 48.
His new Town of Wallkill store sits beside the Olive Garden on Route 211, and his 11th outlet is due in April in Pine Bush. All told, Beer World has grown to carry some 4,000 different beer brands across its stores, which are mostly located in Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties.
Patel’s success is the story of Orange County’s close, supportive business community and the “American Dream,” said Bill Fioravanti, Orange County’s economic development director.
[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”1″ display=”basic_slideshow”]Patel grew up in a small, rural village in India, eventually working his way through college to earn a business degree in his homeland before moving to America in his early 20s.
Beginning with his first American job at a gas station, Patel saved to buy his first beer and beverage store, in Sullivan County, in 1994, before forming his Beer World chain in 1999.
